Arizona Congressmen Andy Biggs (R-AZ5) and Eli Crane (R-AZ2) shared a somewhat cramped carpool video with fellow Freedom Caucus members Reps. Josh Brecheen (R-OK2) and Clay Higgins (R-LA3) last week. The group was commuting from a meeting with President Donald Trump where they discussed the implementation of the president’s policy set out in his address to a Joint Session of Congress the previous night.
The congressmen made light of the close quarters but emphasized their commitment to forwarding the president’s agenda. Higgins quippedsarcastically, “This is the luxury that your congressmen ride in,” as the congressmen laughed. “As you can see we’re in a massive limousine, you know, even though we’re being fed grilled shrimp from the front. Also there’s three of us squeezed into a two-person seat!”
Biggs told followers, “We’re coming back from the White House where we had the privilege of meeting with President Trump. It’s always a great meeting. And we just wanted to let you know that we’re on the cheap, but we are working hard for you.”
Rep. Brecheen commented on Trump’s address saying, “Great speech last night. My gosh.”
Biggs added “We’re gonna do this. We’re going to get President Trump’s mandate through, and that’s not just President Trump’s mandate. That’s the people’s mandate.”
As reported by Fox News, members of the Freedom Caucus, led by Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD), met with Trump and Harris told the outlet, “It’s a meeting with the House Freedom Caucus leadership, and then a few of the people who philosophically share our feelings about the fiscal situation. And we’re going to hear what the president has to say.”
“I’m hopeful we can get this off the ground,” Harris said. “But, again, it’s going to involve all hands on deck in the Republican conference in the House.”
Rep. Higgins shared on Saturday, “MAGA Republicans have things well in hand. The CR through September is a final step of clearing the deck for President Trump and our America First agenda. Democrat elitists who have been devouring our country are freaking out, but they’re powerless to stop us.”
The legislative session may be over for the duration of the year in Arizona, but lawmakers are still working on behalf of their constituents.
On Thursday, Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma “announced the creation of a new Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech to learn about emerging legal and constitutional issues surrounding censorship by government officials and social media interference, big tech manipulation of internet platforms, and the use of artificial intelligence.”
✅FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE✅ New Interim Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech Will Examine Government Censorship and Conduct of State Executive Officials.
Freshman Republican Representative Alexander Kolodin was appointed by the Speaker to lead the interim committee as its chair. Speaker Toma also named Representative Neal Carter to the panel. At least one Democrat is expected to be added in the near future.
Kolodin released the following statement in conjunction with the announcement, saying, “Fighting for the First Amendment is an American’s highest calling. With this new committee, I am excited to have the opportunity to do so on behalf of the people of Arizona.”
According to the news release from the Arizona House of Representatives, “the Committee will hold its first public meeting on September 5, 2023, at the State Capitol to hear from leading experts in the fields of focus and to learn more about how potential legislation should be crafted to protect Arizonans’ constitutional rights, including their rights to free speech guaranteed by the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions. The Committee will also explore the proper role of state officials and conduct relevant investigations to ensure that executive officers are fulfilling their constitutional duties.”
The announcement about this new committee follows a report earlier that day from Arizona Capitol Oversight, which released government emails from then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ Office, showing that she (and at least two staffers) sent communications to Twitter Support in hopes of the social media platform taking restrictive actions against other accounts with dissenting or unfavorable rhetoric. The Office was also requesting similar actions from the Center for Internet Security and Facebook on other posts.
🚨 Today Arizona Capitol Oversight is releasing exclusive emails from @KatieHobbs' office
Among many attempts to plead with social media platforms to censor opposing viewpoints, Hobbs’ Office took aim at one November 2020 Facebook post from Senator-elect Kelly Townsend over an election-related post, calling it “misinformation” in the subject line and transmitting screenshots and links of the lawmaker’s account. Facebook refused to remove the post, but the reviewers did place a banner below the post that linked to the platform’s Voting Information Center.
Arizona Capitol Oversight concluded its exclusive report by stating that “a number of items within the 100+ pages of emails obtained are auto-generated responses from social media companies confirming that they had received complaints and takedown requests from Hobbs’s government office. The specific demands made by Hobbs and her staff in those complaints/requests – likely submitted to Facebook and Twitter through a back-end portal – are unknown… for now.”
Arizona Republicans were quick to react to the breaking news about the Hobbs’ emails. Former Republican nominee for Attorney General in 2022, Abe Hamadeh, tweeted, “Katie Hobbs utter disregard for the rule of law didn’t just start with censorship. She withheld evidence from the court – and then sought sanctions against me for daring to contest the closest race in AZ history with 9,000 uncounted ballots. This is corruption & an abuse of power.”
Katie Hobbs utter disregard for the rule of law didn’t just start with censorship. She withheld evidence from the court — and then sought sanctions against me for daring to contest the closest race in AZ history with 9,000 uncounted ballots. This is corruption & an abuse of power https://t.co/nQXIPyx3C4
Kari Lake, the Republican’s nominee for Governor in 2022, said, “HUGE: Official emails EXPOSE Katie Hobbs’ corruption in the 2022 election. Not only did she run her own election, but she was actively using her office to CENSOR Kari Lake & the AZGOP. Hobbs attempted to silence our movement to manipulate the outcome of an election. She needs to be held accountable for it.”
HUGE: Official emails EXPOSE @KatieHobbs’ corruption in the 2022 election.
Not only did she run her own election, but she was actively using her office to CENSOR @KariLake & the @AZGOP
Hobbs attempted to silence our movement to manipulate the outcome of an election.
On Tuesday, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and the House Freedom Caucus spoke in opposition to Congress’ plan to raise the debt ceiling: the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA).
Under the current plan, the debt ceiling would increase from $31.5 trillion to $36 trillion by 2025, with no cap in place. Without a raise in the debt limit by June 5, the government will be in default.
“Instead of estimating the actual debt ceiling that will be imposed by that date, January 1, 2025, they simply say that will be the date, there will be an unlimited cap,” said Biggs. “There won’t be a cap for 19 months of the Biden administration, and the Biden administration is probably the most profligate we’ve seen.”
Honored to stand with my colleagues in the @freedomcaucus today.
The national debt current growth rate is projected at over $4 trillion in new debt. Biggs forecasted an increase to $5 trillion by 2025.
Biggs claimed that the version of the FRA agreed to under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) would only delay, not prevent the IRS from hiring 87,000 new agents costing $71 billion. Biggs said these agents would not only be weaponized against taxpayers, but presented a significant financial burden.
Biggs further claimed that the FRA establishes Green New Deal tax credits and subsidies for the wealthy. He further criticized the PAYGO program, which would require government bureaucrats to justify how they would afford their expenditures; Biggs noted that a similar program already exists in Congress, yet that program hasn’t slowed spending. He added that Congress also already waives PAYGO provisions.
“How come it is Republican leaders always tell us ‘next year we’ll fight hard’?” asked Biggs.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ-07) also opposed the FRA, but for different reasons. Grijalva expressed opposition to the FRA in his capacity as Democratic ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee. He argued that the FRA would jeopardize the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Watch the full press conference here:
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY-04) criticized the Senate for attempting to corner the House into approving their version of the funding bill.
“[The Senate is] sending us a giant omnibus bill the day before the government funding runs out, and saying, ‘Pass the Senate version or the House will be responsible for the shutdown,” said Massie.
House Republican Conference leadership backs the FRA. The chairwoman, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) claimed the FRA would stop runaway inflationary spending, rescind executive overreach, and improve everyday Americans’ financial status.
With the Fiscal Responsibility Act, House Republicans will:
1. Stop out-of-control inflationary spending. 2. Rein in executive overreach. 3. Lift Americans out of poverty.
McCarthy also characterized the FRA as a win, adding that their version eliminates COVID-19 spending, prevents $5 trillion in new tax proposals, and enacts more work requirements for welfare recipients.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress in January that the U.S. had reached its statutory debt limit and would run out of funding sometime in early June. In a follow-up letter last week, Yellen specified the expiration date as June 5.
She disclosed that her department would fulfill over $130 billion of scheduled payments in the first two days of June, including payments to veterans as well as Social Security and Medicare recipients. Yellen added that scheduled payouts would leave the Treasury unable to satisfy all its fiscal obligations.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Several Republican lawmakers opted to walkout or turn their backs as a sign of protest during Monday’s State of the State address by Gov. Katie Hobbs. And the same group intends to move forward with plans to initiate a lawsuit challenging Hobbs’ first executive order.
The protests were organized by the Arizona Freedom Caucus, whose members are committed to upholding the Constitution and preserving personal freedom. Their actions at the State of the State event came just hours after a press conference was held to discuss a lawsuit they intend to file against Hobbs.
The lawsuit will challenge the constitutionality of Executive Order 2023-01, which seeks to extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ+ individuals seeking employment in most state offices and state contractors. Hobbs’ order, however, has come under attack for likely violating an Arizona law which protects the religious autonomy of organizations that work with state agencies.
Sen. Jake Hoffman said during Monday’s press conference that Hobbs believes “she has the ability to legislate with the power of the pen, attempting to create law that simply does not exist.” The lawsuit hopes to rein in the type of policy changes Hobbs seeks to implement through executive orders.
Hoffman is one of the lawmakers who later left the House of Representatives chamber during Hobbs’ speech.
While Katie Hobbs was speaking I took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet one-on-one with our guest speaker – Holocaust survivor Hanna Miley. Then Chairwoman Parker and I got right to work on legislation of importance to the people of Arizona. pic.twitter.com/IgDp1SpnT1
State Rep. Jacqueline Parker is a founding member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus. She explained her protest action in a press release issued after Hobbs’ address.
“We could not sit idly by while she repeatedly declared her intention to advance her woke agenda that stands at odds with the people of our state,” Parker said.
& she wants to take the money (for illegals) from ESA’s which help the children of actual Arizona citizens 👇 https://t.co/WDqgRr9Uth
“The Arizona Freedom Caucus will never back down in the face of Katie Hobbs’ attempts to implement her fascist agenda in our state,” vowed Rep. Joseph Chaplik.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
